News

Have you ever heard of lower inferior oolite? What was first, the Silurian or the Jurassic? What is Gondwana when it’s at home? And, crucially, if you went for a swim in a Jurassic sea, would you be Liopleurodon’s dinner? If you have a visual impairment and want to learn fascinating facts about the rocks we walk on, Stroud Valleys Project have just the thing for you: a geology walk at Breakheart Quarry in Dursley.

Have you ever seen a yellow sea? If not, head with Stroud Valleys Project to Betty Daw’s Wood, where the carpet of sunshine yellow wild daffodils is certainly a sight to behold.

Beautiful carpets of wild daffodils, wall to wall sunshine (we hope!) and lovely company of likeminded people – the perfect way to discover hidden natural history gems. ‘Daft about daffodils’ is another walk for people with hearing impairment, organised by Stroud Valleys Project.

Gardeners and wildlife enthusiasts worried about the decline of bees can come to a special illustrated talk to find out how to help them thrive in our gardens. The session is being organised by local environmental charity, Stroud Valleys Project in partnership with the Global Bee Project.

Environmental charity Stroud Valleys Project is looking for more unemployed volunteers to sign up and help with planting hedgerows and putting in kissing gates thanks to a £5,000 grant from Gloucestershire County Council.

Director of projects Clare Mahdiyone said: ”We realised that we were getting more inquiries about volunteering since the recession started but had limited staff hours to cover the demand.

“This grant from the county council means that we can now run more practical conservation days for unemployed people who want to learn more about the countryside and leave a legacy like a kissing gate or a new hedge.”

Don’t let unwanted 2010 diaries and calendars gather dust on your desk, drop them off at Stroud Valleys Project office instead, so others can use them.

The Great Diary Swap works like this: drop off unwanted 2010 diaries or calendars at Stroud Valleys Project. And if you need a new diary or calendar, pop into the SVP office at 8 Threadneedle Street on Stroud to get one. Simple! Saving resources and at the same time reducing the clutter on your desk. The swap will be running until the end of January.

Back by popular demand – come and de-stress before Christmas with Stroud Valleys Project’s Solstice walk.

Christmas is just around the corner but there really is no need to stress out about the conveyor belt of cooking, baking, cleaning and buying the perfect pair of socks for Uncle Bert. Forget the constant pressure to make Christmas perfect, come out with Stroud Valleys Project instead to celebrate the Solstice on this brisk walk to the Heavens. Please wear walking boots and waterproofs.

It’s National Tree Week and the challenge has gone out to tree lovers to join in a world record breaking planting event on Saturday 5 December between 11am and 12noon. Stroud Valleys Project is joining in with BBC Breathing Spaces as part of nationwide challenge to help to set a new record for planting the most trees in one hour.

Environmental charity Stroud Valleys Project has recruited a new wildlife specialist to help with their latest conservation project at Frampton-on-Severn.

Forty-four year old Mark Claridge, who lives in Eastington, joined the charity last month after completing a two years Masters Degree in Biodiversity, Conservation and Eco-tourism where he was based in Thailand.

“I had known about SVP for a while and I liked that it is a small organisation with a good track record of working with local people on interesting projects. After two years doing research on the impact of tourism on coral reefs I wanted to do something that was practical and the idea of working closely with local people appealed to me,” explained Mark.

Before deciding to his Masters degree Mark worked at Woodchester Park Badger Research Project, his first wildlife job after completing his original degree in Wildlife Conservation.

Mark joins Nadine Smykatz - Kloss to work in and around Frampton-on-Severn on a project to restore traditional landscape features, improve habitats and establish wildlife corridors on the land left by past gravel and aggregates extraction. Both Mark and Nadine’s posts are funded from the £122,656 grant awarded to SVP by the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) earlier this year.

Staff and volunteers at Stroud Valleys Project are celebrating this year as the environmental charity turns 21 years old. To mark the occasion the charity is organising a special event on 22 June for its current volunteers who will enjoy an afternoon out at Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust finishing with a barbeque.

Bat detectors, insect boxes and binoculars are just some of the new equipment that volunteers can use when they take part in events run by Stroud Valleys Project thanks to a £10,000 grant from the Awards for All.